Reading Journal 5: Magic Realism

           Magic realism is by definition "a genre where magic elements are a natural part in an otherwise mundane, realistic environment." Recently, we have read two magic realism short stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Handsomest Drown Man in the World and A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. Both deal with somewhat remote town by the sea, where the townspeople encounter an objectively supernatural phenomenon without any surprise. Apparently, to the readers, including myself, the happenings are quite incomprehensible. People treat an old man with a pair of giant feathery wings like a zoo animal. Women seem to have a fetish for a dead giant. Still, the rest of the setting is realistic and natural, probably why the two novellas fall into the categories of magic realism.

             Honestly, I have no definite idea about what "magic realism" really is. What exactly is the boundary between fantasy and magic realism? Take for example, if a thunderbolt-shooting rodent suddenly appeared in the middle of Tokyo and everybody just naturally treated it as a wild animal, would that be a magic realism? There is no sharp answer to the question, but I believe magic realism is more of a strategy than a genre. Magic realism is not a limiting genre of literature, but a device used by the author to effectively convey his or her message through the story.

             In such sense, The Handsomest Drown Man in the World and A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings use magic realism pretty well. The situations present in the story induce a light laugh from the audience - they are absurd as well as strangely understandable. The absurdity comes from the fantasy elements and the comprehension comes from the fact that they stories actually reflect the human lives. Through the combination of both characteristics, Gabriel Garcia Marquez assigned satirical tone to the stories.

             In A Very Old Ma with Enormous Wings, there are several fantasy elements. The main one is the old man with wings, who townspeople assume to be an angel. There are also patients with unrealistic diseases, such as the "poor woman who since childhood has been counting her heartbeats and had run out of numbers," the "Portuguese man who couldn't sleep because the noise of stars disturbed him," and the "sleepwalker who got up at night to undo the things he had done while awake."  There is also the spider woman, doomed for her immature acts. When the angel came, Pelayo and Elisenda both treated the angel as a show animal kept in a cage. People flocked to see the angel as if he was a zoo animal, and patients came to have their ailments cured. However, when the angel did not meet the expectations of the viewers, they moved to see the spider woman. All these happenings are unexpected in the real life, but readers can understand the happening with a help of their imagination, because the fantasy elements act like metaphors of reality. The angel represent a deviational characteristic, something others pay attention to. People take interest as long as that characteristic is fascinating, but at once another appears -such as the spider woman- they instantly change their attention. This is quite true for the human society. People care for something as long as they are interested or that something gives benefits. When it no longer gives interest or benefit, the object is ignored.

             The Handsomest Drown Man in the World too have fantasy elements. First, there is the corpse of a handsome giant and second, the women with seemingly necrophilia tendency. Esteban symbolizes the superficiality of the human society, and the women, and eventually men, are members of the society. The townspeople do not have any basic knowledge about Esteban, yet they are attracted to him and even change the appearance of the whole town in memorial of Esteban. Only through the unnatural appearances, people assume and decide who Esteban is, and treat him god-like. Actually, for majority of times, people judge others on the base of outward appearances, and sometimes such judgments actually take place as a fad. Images are important for every members of the society, and especially the celebrities have their images tagged behind them all the time. The appearance can actually have significant influence on many people and even the person.

             What takes place in both stories depict the real life with the help of metaphorical fantasy elements; both stories use magic realism. While some parts of the story is far from being realistic, as a whole, the overall image of the story is a realistic mirror.

 

Word Count: 722

 

References:

Wikipedia "Magic Realism"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism

 

Wikipedia "Gabriel Garcia Marquez"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Garc%C3%ADa_M%C3%A1rquez#Realism_and_Magical_Realism